Attic space above Sterling Motel room catches fire; Cause still under investigation

Published 12:29 pm Monday, December 17, 2018

Austin Police and Fire responded to a Monday morning fire at the Sterling Motel.

According to Austin Fire Chief Jim McCoy, the fire department received a call at 11:30 a.m. on Monday about a fire in Room 106 at the motel. The fire was up high in a closet in the attic space and had burned through several roof trusses.

Joe Schlicther, who does maintenance work at the Sterling Motel, said he initially saw smoke rolling out from underneath the roof.

A room at the Sterling Motel was damaged in a Monday morning fire. Photo by Michael Stoll.

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“I checked the room next to it and when I got to the bathroom area I smelled smoke,” he told the Herald. “When I went to Room 106, I knocked on the door and nobody answered. I let myself in and the room was full of smoke. I noticed nobody was in the room and when I looked in the closet, I saw the ceiling was glowing. I exited the room because it was getting hard to breath and that’s when I contacted the owner and told him to call the fire department. We tried to use a fire extinguisher in there, but it didn’t do any good because it was in the roof.”

No injuries were reported in the fire. Sterling Motel owner Ashwin Patel said the last individual to rent the room had already checked out earlier in the morning.

McCoy estimates about $15,000 worth of damage was caused to the structure and about $3,000 worth of damage was caused to the room’s contents. Room 107 was also damaged because firefighters had to pull some of the ceiling in the room.

The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated by the state fire marshal.

McCoy stated that 911 should be called before trying to handle a fire on one’s own.